Both regardless and regardlessly are adverbs, and Google said the latter is the adverb form of the former, but the former is an adverb. How are they different?
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M-W (as well as several other major dictionaries) lists "regardless" as both an adverb and an adjective. That answers your question, doesn't it?– MarcInManhattanFeb 25 at 23:04
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What difference is between them as adverbs?– TimFeb 25 at 23:52
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I think that a dictionary could probably answer that better than I could. Certainly more concisely.– MarcInManhattanFeb 26 at 3:44
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No: "regardless" is best analysed as a preposition by virtue of being able to occur as head of an adjunct with no predicand. (please note @MarcInManhattan)– BillJFeb 26 at 9:33
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2 Answers
The most obvious difference is that regardlessly is hardly ever used. The iWeb corpus has 691833 instances of regardless against 34 of regardlessly.
I don't think there is a systematic difference in their meaning.
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I agree. I'm not sure the adverb "regardlessly" even exists. "Regardless" is best analysed as a preposition by virtue of being able to occur as head of an adjunct with no predicand.– BillJFeb 26 at 9:50
It is doubtful whether there actually is an adverb form "regardlessly".
"Regardless" is best analysed as a preposition by virtue of being able to occur as head of an adjunct with no predicand.
It selects "of" as head of its complement, though grammatically the complement is optional:
The project will go ahead, regardless (of any objections).
